


Sky fall

by Dumbsunflowers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers Family, Child Death, Depression, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kidnapping, Mobsters, Multi, Mutual Pining, Non-Canon Relationship, Original Character(s), Parent Death, Post-Avengers (2012), Pre-Thor: The Dark World, mafia, mentions of depression, some smut somewhere later down the line maybe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:07:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25641814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dumbsunflowers/pseuds/Dumbsunflowers
Summary: After a grand fight with some stragglers of Loki's former accomplices, Stark finds himself between a rock and a hard place, blaming himself for the death of an innocent child. Going to great lengths to rid himself of this guilt and grief. Samantha, a new avengers recruit is trying to soften the blow, taking responsibility and caring for the grieving billionaire before he goes off the deep end.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. The boy

“And what a glorious fight it was! I do believe they will not be coming around here any longer.” Thor’s voice boomed from the elevator, causing the others to agree and also recoil from the rather loud sound. Everyone appeared to be celebrating the win, Natasha was rather indifferent about it, it was just another fight to her. She was more worried about Tony who hadn’t said a word since the fight ended. The mask on his suit was down as he leaned against the wall of the elevator. She didn’t exactly want to ask in front of the team but it was eating away at her. As the newest Avengers recruit, Samantha came rushing over once she heard the ding of the elevator, happy to help in any way she could. 

Once they got up to the (Of course Stark named it that why wouldn’t he?) Party deck Tony was the first out, making his way over to the couch as mechanical arms came up from the floor to take off his suit. “You’re right Thor, it was one hell of a fight this time,” he said, sounding rather subdued and distraught. 

The rest of the team decided to leave him be for a moment so he could have some space, moving over to the bar for a celebratory drink. Normally Tony would be all for having a drink but now he just sat with blood trickling down his cheek from his brow, he didn’t notice the metallic smell of the liquid as it dripped down his chin and onto his arm. He didn’t make a sound and if you listened closely it didn’t even seem like he was breathing. Samantha stepped closer, kneeling down in front of the male. He stared blankly at her, not moving or breathing while she patched him up. “Tony?” she calls but he doesn’t respond. 

“Leave him be Sam, he’ll be fine in a little bit,” Natasha said softly. “He gets like that after every mission.” 

“It really doesn’t seem like you care,” Sam started, holding her breath for a second. “And you know just as well as I do that is never this bad,” she argues before leaning a bit closer. “Tony…? Come on, you can talk to me.” 

He didn’t respond at first, grumbling at her before shaking his head and taking a large deep breath. 

“I’m fine- Sam! I’m alright, I’m here.” he insisted, getting up to stretch and smile weakly at the others. 

“Stark you weren’t breathing, I wouldn’ call that ‘alright’,” Sam interjected as she continued to tend to his wound. 

“I wasn’t? I didn’t even notice.” He insisted yet again as he stood, practically pushing Sam out of the way before he went over to the bar to grab a drink. “It’s not like there’s a kids’ blood on my hands and I have no way to condone my actions. It’s not like I can shove money into the parent’s face and bring their son back.” he mocked in a cocky tone before downing a shot.

The room went silent, everyone watched Tony pour himself another shot only to go back to the couch to stare into space again. 

“Tony, if a kid’s blood is on your hands from that fight then it’s on all of us. You can’t take sole responsibility for something any of us could have stopped.” Rogers butted in, letting out a deep sigh as he looked at Sam. Out of the whole team, she was the closest to Tony and he didn’t even want to talk to her about it. 

“No Rogers, I can take sole responsibility. You wanna know how? Because I could have stopped that building from falling on him and I didn’t. I got caught up and I fucking failed. NO-ONE else did.” He practically screamed, his face going red as he turned back to look at the team. “I screwed up, I didn’t save an innocent kid and what can I do about it? Pay for his funeral and any other expenses? That’s not gonna bring him back.”

“You made a mistake, we all do. If you continue to beat yourself up every single time someone dies on accident then you’re going to have a very long and painful life.” Clint chimed in, sounding just as pissed if not more so. 

“Lay off! He has every right to be upset. Just let him cool down,” Sam growled, letting out a frustrated sigh seeing that poking the bear wasn’t getting them anywhere. “I’ll take him to his room and we can talk about this later.” and so she did, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the elevator to take him down to the lower bedroom or private quarters level of the tower. He didn’t fight really, more-so just grunting and huffing as the two of them went. 

“Quit being a big baby, if I left you in there for much longer you would be having a fistfight with Barton on the balcony or you’d be on the floor passed out because you refuse to breathe,” Sam muttered as she pulled the male into his room.

“Tell me how defending myself is a bad thing, he’s being a jackass!” Tony exclaimed, sitting himself down on his bed. 

“And you’re being a drama queen as always. I know what happened out there must have messed you up but yelling at others about how it’s your fault isn’t going to do anything to help.” She said in a softer tone, sitting beside him. “Just relax and think about what happened. Go through what you remember.” 

Stark went quiet again, a theme today it seems like. He went into deep thought before closing his eyes and letting out a loud groan. “Steve was running from three dudes before he tripped and fell, his shield skitting across the ground…..

flashback...

"Stark!" Rogers yelled, falling to his knees after being tripped on some rubble. He rolled on his back and kicked one of the men that was chasing him down. The other two were shot down by Tony’s blasters before he landed beside Steve handing him his shield. 

"Butterfingers." The man in the metal suit mocked before helping his teammate up. 

During the fight, quite a bit of damage was done to the city, some hoards from Loki's attack came back years later to try and pick a fight again. Of course, the teams’ best efforts to keep the city from falling were being thwarted as buildings crumbled and streets split. This of course would be the source of Tonys’ stress. After helping Steve he was called upon once again by another member of the group, Natasha. While using her spider bites on one of the invaders she became trapped under some rubble and at the moment Tony was the only one that could come to her aid. Getting down to her was easy enough but pulling the wreckage away was a bit more challenging, placing his feet down firm on the ground he turned on his thrusters and pulled up. He cracked the rubble just enough to set Natasha free but in the process it caused the building to crumble even more. Right before his eyes, there was a little kid, he believed that the city was evacuated at this point but of course there were a few stragglers. He finished pulling Natasha from the building practically throwing her to the side before rushing to the kid but it was too late... from what he could tell he was crushed under the weight of the building and died. Tony's jaw dropped, time seemed to slow as the invaders retreated and the fight seemed to be over. He fell to his knees, staying completely silent as he stared. Then Jarvis brought him back to his senses causing Tony to try and push through the broken building to find the kid, he couldn't find the body under the rubble but Tony felt in his heart that the kid was gone. 

present...

And then we left.. I didn't say a word and I guess everyone chalked it up to me being exhausted." Tony finished with tears rolling down his cheeks, a rare sight for the billionaire.

"What happened was awful and I'm not trying to discredit your pain but Tony, you saved Natasha. If you didn't pull her out of there we would have two deaths on our hands." Samantha said as she got up to get him some tissues. "I'm sorry.. really I am but you can't hold yourself fully responsible for his death. You can't even confirm that he did die, you didn't see his body right?"

"Well yeah, Rogers pulled me out before I could see anything," Tony explained with a small bit of hope in his eyes. "I can't help but blame myself. I saw it with my own eyes. If I wouldn’t have slowed down I-"

Sam put her hand up, handing him a tissue before taking a deep breath. "Ten years ago my mother died, my dad got caught up with some pretty horrible people and got my mother killed. I blamed myself every day for five years after because I wasn't home. I couldn't defend her because I was stuck on an air force base with my sister. But I came to realize that if we were there? We would probably be dead too. Life is shit but things happen and we can't keep telling ourselves that we could have prevented the inevitable. the sky’s gonna fall, we just have to brace for impact." 

Meanwhile, on the party deck, the team was talking over what happened during the fight and how they could improve. Natasha was giving her input as the conversation went on until she went silent, shaking her head. "It’s my fault. That damn kid Tony was talking about would be alive if he didn't come to help me... it was my fault." 

"Tash' don't talk bad about yourself, I'm sure there wasn't anything either of you could have done to prevent that from happening." Clint sputtered, placing his hand on her shoulder. "You two will be back to your old selves again soon, just give it time." He insisted before pulling away. "It's gonna be alright." 

"Listen, we can't save everyone even if we try our hardest. We're gonna lose some and that's the role you and Tony signed up for when you started calling yourselves Avengers. It's okay to mourn but don't blame yourself." Steve chimed in with a rather stern tone. "I lost a few back in world war two, sure I blamed myself for a while but they signed the papers, basically forking their lives over to save this country," he added before heading out to the balcony to get some fresh air. 

"That boy’s death was all our faults, not just yours."


	2. The girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With heightened emotions can Sam sift through her tangling feelings about Stark? Or maybe is there another factor at play? Regardless an event shakes the core of the team testing everyone's patients.

“Thank you for staying with me. I don’t know if I’d be able to talk like this with the others. You bring out a side of me that I’m not used to, and I’m not sure if I like it yet.” Tony managed to chuckle before he placed his hand on Sams, seeing it as a kind of physical thank you since he couldn’t hug her from under the covers. 

“Y-You’re welcome if there’s anything else I can to let me know,” Sam said as she admired the warm touch of his hand. It didn’t last long, however, as Tony pulled it away to roll over. 

“Goodnight, Sam.”

“Goodnight, Tony…”

~~~~

That night Samantha put Tony to bed with some painkillers and water on the nightstand in case he needed them. By the time she got back to the upper floor, most of the team had left to either go home or rest in their respective rooms downstairs. Natasha was left alone, sure Bruce and Clint tried to comfort her, but she pushed them away and insisted that they go home, so they did. 

“It’s pretty dark in here, you sure you can see that shot glass in front of you?” Sam said as she left the elevator, moving over to the couch to sit beside the ex-assassin. 

“If you’re here to comfort me, save your breath,” Nat mumbled before setting her glass down on the coffee table. “I’m fine.” 

Samantha rolled her eyes “It seems like you people don’t like talking about your feelings. It’s always ‘I’m fine’ this and ‘it’s alright’ that.” 

“I’m not supposed to feel.. feelings. I was trained not to, and now that I’m given a chance to be vulnerable, I can’t.” She practically growled, squinting her eyes as if she was trying to cry. “If I went out of line or even shed a single tear, they would... Look, I don’t want to talk about it. How’s Stark?”

“He’ll be fine, I’m planning on scheduling an appointment with his therapist for him to work some stuff out, he would know more about how to actually help him then I do.” Sam said quietly with her eyes shifting back and forth, “I’m really a brick wall when it comes to helping, yeah you can talk to me for hours and hours but I don’t really feel like I’m the best when it comes to actually showing my empathy or putting my thoughts on the matter into words. I want to help but maybe just listening is help enough?” She admits with a bit of a shrug. “All I want is for him to be okay. After he lost Pepper, he’s been a wreck, and now this?” she began to pick at the skin around her nails along with twiddling her thumbs while still trying to listen in to what her teammate had to say. 

“Something tells me there’s more going on than just you wanting to help. You’re acting the same way Thor acts while talking about Jane.” the redhead chuckles lightly, finally finding something to distract from her own inner monolog. 

“What are you talking about? I just want to help him get better. He’s a vital member of the team, and we need him to be all put together for new missions.” the other girl insisted, moving her left hand over her right before letting out a deep sigh. It had only been for a moment, but she already longed for the touch of his hand on hers. It was really hard for her to explain how physical attention like the brush of a hand made her feel, Sam didn’t exactly like people touching her regardless. But at the thought of it happening again she ended up zoning out a bit, her heart skipping a few beats as she interlocked her fingers together not realizing Natasha was mentally taking notes as she poured herself another shot. 

“You’ve fallen hard, Sam, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” She finally spoke up, causing the other to snap back. 

“Hey! I am not in love!” she insisted while crossing her arms in her little childlike fit. 

“I never said the word love.” Tasha threw back with a smirk on her face. This was the most amusing thing she’d seen all day, so of course, she was going to poke and prod till she was satisfied. “If I can’t show my feelings, then you should be able to, I want you to tell him. It might boost his mood and make him feel at least a little bit better.” She added while leaning back into the couch. “Plus, have you seen the way he looks at you? Other than Banner, you’re the one he pays the most attention to.” 

“I can vouch for that!” A males voice called from the other room, startling the two girls. Clint came out, sipping from a juice box with a content smile. “I couldn’t help but overhear you ladies talking about Stark.” 

“Do you ever knock?” Sam asked with her brow cocked.

“You really are new here. There’s word going around that he sleeps in the vents,” Nat whispered, making the other woman giggle a bit.

“That’s a lie, Tash’ and you know it,” Clint said with a small bit of sass in his tone as he made his way over to sit with the two. “But she wasn’t lying about the Tony thing; the dude makes mad heart eyes at you when you say some smart shit or when you use your skills in the field. Either he’s more of a nerd than we first thought or he wants to take you out to dinner but is afraid of getting rejected.” 

“Rejected? Clint, he’s a playboy, he has enough confidence to choke a goat. Why would he think that I’d turn him down?” Sam asked with a genuine look of confusion on her face.

“When Pepper died, he never forgave himself; I think rather than being afraid of rejection, he’s afraid of you getting hurt because of him. He can’t have another loss.” Nat explained, Clint, changing his tone, opting to agree with her. 

“But that wasn’t really his fault either-”

“What scares him is dragging you along and getting you hurt in the process. He told us time and time again that if he didn’t have her, she would still be alive. He kept saying, ‘If only I had caught her,’” Nat explained, cutting Sam off. 

Sam leaned back a bit, looking away before her eyes lit up. “I.. I’ll show him that he doesn’t have to be afraid, I’ll prove to him that things will be alright and that he doesn’t have to worry. I’m a trained spy I can handle my own.”

“Sure, you might be fine in that regard, but Tony is as stubborn as the day is long. You’re going to have to put a lot of work into changing his mind.” Clint added, getting back up to grab another drink and most likely raid the fridge. His heart pounded in his chest, he hated vouching for Tony while practically setting the two up in the process. 

After getting his drink he turned back to look at her. She was a damn good fighter and she knew how to have fun and joke around. Of course, she has her past and she wasn’t perfect but Clint didn’t care. The only thing in his way was Tony and he felt as if he couldn’t compete. 

~~Later that evening~~

After a little over an hour of more chatting, Sam went home to her apartment in Queens, settling in and feeding her two dogs before going to turn in for the night. It was nearing midnight when she finally got into bed, but something felt off, the foul smell of blood hit her nose instantly throwing her into a panic. Springing up from under the covers to grab her gun, she got hit by a swift and forceful blow to the forehead. 

~~The next morning~~

“Has anyone seen Sam?” Tony asked as he came out of his room to the common area where Natasha and Bruce were sitting. 

“I haven’t seen her since last night; she said she was gonna head back to her apartment then come in this morning. Maybe she slept in?” Nat suggested only to look up and see that Stark looked like a complete mess. His hair was tangled and matted, and his clothes looked haphazardly thrown on. “Are you okay?” 

“Me? Oh, I’m fine. I just need to talk to her about something. It’s not that important, but if you see her, let her know I’m looking for her.” He said slowly, his words almost slurring. 

“Are you drunk? Stark, it’s eight in the morning!” Bruce exclaimed as he stood.

“It’s not as ridiculous as it sounds when you consider the fact that I have been awake since like eleven last night.” He retorted, crossing his arms like a child.   
“Did Sam not tuck you in tight enough?” Nat asked as she stood as well. 

“You need to go lay down, maybe some tea will cool your nerves.” the other male suggested as he went up to take Tony’s arm, but he smacked his hand away. 

“I’m fine... I-I just need to talk to Sam; then I’ll feel better,” he grumbled as he shuffled back to his room.

“Great, the girls become his security blanket, and she’s nowhere to be found, I’ll try calling her.” Nat groaned, stepping away to make the call. 

“No need, Sams went missing. Fury and I have been trying to contact her all morning with Tonys ‘Help’ to no avail.” Steve said as he came in, letting out a deep sigh. “I had a few agents go over to check out her place while I searched the building, the only things there were her dogs completely unharmed and blood splatter in the back bedroom.”

“The information on the manhunt would have been helpful ten minutes ago, Rogers,” Nat said, sounding pretty annoyed. “Starks drunk and he sounds like a lost toddler looking for his favorite toy.” 

“We were hoping you two would distract him long enough for us to leave if he came out of his room, he’s gone completely manic, and we really don’t want him finding out that something bad happened,” Steve admits while rubbing the back of his neck. “We snuck out while he was still trying to call her.” 

“So, you needed us to babysit while you went off to look?”

“Basically,” Steve shrugs. “I was afraid that he might do something stupid and desperate to try and help.”

“When does he not do stuff that’s stupid and desperate?” Bruse asked 

Just then, every phone in the building malfunctioned, causing an ear-piercing ringing to echo through every floor. It then suddenly cuts to a loud announcement.

“Bring Nick Fury and bring forty-five billion dollars to the location on your screens, and we’ll bring the girl back safe and sound. You have two hours.” The voice was distorted, sounding choppy and rough. Once the announcement was over, every device returned to normal, except for the fact that the location they’d mentioned was locked into everyone's GPS. 

“Seems oddly specific don’t you think?” Nap scoffed. 

“What’s oddly specific is we just found out Sams gone. I’m sure they’ve got her.” Steve added. 

“What girl? Who’s missing?” Stark called out as he came back to the common room. Everyone of course went quiet, causing him to panic and jump to even more conclusions in his head. “Rogers, who is it? Where the hell have you been?” he said in a harsher tone, his emotions showing plainly on his face. 

“I was out… Tony, I don’t want you to freak out but it’s probably Sam” Steve mumbled before getting closer to the other male. “But you’re not going to run off and try to save her; you aren’t in the right state of mind to help.” 

“Back off! I’ll go get her and prove that I’m perfectly fine!” he yelled, trying to turn back to his room, but Steve grabbed his arm. 

“If you go now, you could get her killed! Do you want that?” He yelled back, his grip getting tighter on his arm “I get that you’re upset and that you don’t want anyone else getting hurt but if you run in there head-on with guns blazing it won’t end well for any of us. If you want to save her, then we have to go in together. There’s no way in hell you’re going alone.” 

Tony pulled his arm back before nodding, realizing that Steve was right. Of course, he didn’t want to admit that rushing in head first was a bad idea he’d go through with whatever Steve had planned. 

“We move out in thirty minutes. Suit up and meet me at the launch bay,” he said with a softer tone, taking a moment to collect himself before heading off. “I’m sorry.” He added quickly as he left.

Nat softly huffed while slowly pulling Tony to the elevator to get him upstairs. He would probably need one of his suits, but he didn’t seem too keen on getting one on. “Do we have a Nick Fury decoy that we don’t know about?” she half-joked. “Whatever does happen we’re gonna get Sam back.”

“What if things do go wrong? What sort of plan can Steve come up with that I can’t?” he asked, looking at Nat with a light scowl. 

“Stark, as much as I think he’s a hothead, I trust that Rogers knows what he’s doing. We’ll bring Sam back.” she tried to reassure him, getting him up to the ‘suit room’ as she called it. “No one else has to get hurt, and more often than not, your plans seem to end with one of us in a hospital.” in hindsight, Natasha realized that what she said, while probably right, wasn’t the pep talk Tony needed. Then again, when was she ever good at pep talks anyway? 

~~Meanwhile~~

As soon as Sam woke up she began to struggle, unable to see or hear anything. She figured that she had a bag over her head or some type of cloth blocking her view. She could tell that she was bound to a chair, her arms twisted behind her. Suddenly she felt a rush of wind, the sound of a door swinging open in front of her. “Who’s there!” She yelled, scooting the chair only for it to tip forward causing her to topple over and smack her face on the cold ground. Before she could cry out someone grabbed her by her hair to pull her back up, pulling the piece of cloth away from her eyes. 

Standing in front of her was a rather tall man in a pinstripe suit, his stature was absolutely massive and he easily towered over Sam and the two other men in the room.   
“Samantha? We were worried that you weren’t going to wake up.” He said with a small chuckle, looking down at her with an evil grin.

“Let me go! What the hell do you want with me!?” She yelled out, still trying to struggle free. 

“Relax, no harm will come to you if you stay quiet and corporate.” The large male stated, his voice booming loudly through the dark room. 

“Like I’d actually listen to you. What do you want?” She asked again, gritting her teeth up at the man “Tell me! I’m sure my team is on their way right now to find me.”

“If your team is smart they’ll listen to my message. The only reason we have you is to get more out of SHIELD. You mean nothing to me really.” He spat, turning to leave. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He added quickly before turning back to her. “Don’t think changing your last name can save you from your past. Samantha Grey~”

Sam was shocked, her jaw almost reaching the floor as he spoke. “How do you know my last name! Who are you!?” 

“Your worst nightmare my dear Samantha, your worst nightmare. I should have finished the job years ago, I promise taking your mother out wasn’t that difficult. She didn’t even scream as I-” he was suddenly cut off, taken aback by the loud sound of Sam's voice.

“STOP! Just stop… You don’t know anything about what happened to her.” She snapped, snarling once again while leaning forward only to fall onto the cold ground once again. “Don’t you DARE talk about her!” she cried.

“Oh trust me, I have plenty of dirt that I’ll keep to myself.” He chuckled. “Have fun on the floor for the next hour.” 

As the doors slammed shut Sam felt herself shutting down, her body shaking as thoughts about that night crept up in her mind. Her anxiety began to build leaving her practically paralyzed with fear.


	3. The Boss

The hot morning sun beat down on the tarmac as the team rolled out, heading straight for the drop off sight. Of course, they were early, wanting to scout out the area to make sure this wasn’t a setup. Nick stayed in the back, heavily guarded, and watched over like a hawk. He didn’t think it was necessary but Maria thought otherwise. The team wouldn’t be handing him over though (Obviously) they had to stay calm and collected to have this plan work. 

“I don’t see why I can’t be the one to go in and get her while you all handle the rest. I could fly in and fly out.” Tony argued, crossing his arms as they walked. 

“Tony, we need you in the air in case they back out and try to fly her out themselves. Clint being on the ground going in after her is the best solution we have right now.” Steve reminded him before stopping to survey their surroundings. “Clint and Tash need to wait here with Fury, get in, get out and none of our men get hurt.”

“Besides grandpa, they’d be able to spot that suit from miles away, anything brighter and they’d think you’re a glorified Christmas decoration.” Clint snickered, readying his bow. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“Clint, you’re a chicken with arrows, what are you gonna do? Peck them to death?” Tony retorted with a smirk. “Me flying in past them would be better, they wouldn’t have a chance to shoot at me.” 

“Ladies, you’re both pretty, can we focus on the task at hand now?” Natasha chuckled as she smacked both of them in the back of the head. 

“Alright- Tony, you’re in the air and that’s final. Clint, you need to get in and get out with her as fast as you can while Nat and I take care of the rest. This is the last time I’m going to explain the plan to you, floozies.” Steve grumbled out only making the rest of the team laugh. 

“You really are a man out of your own time.” Nat tried to stifle a laugh before clearing her throat. “But I agree, you two need to cut it out.” 

Before either of the men could interject a jet flew overhead, silencing them real quick. Tony retreated, hiding and waiting for his time to strike. The jet lands a few feet in front of the team, the doors flying open revealing two agents holding Samantha up. “The money first, then Fury.” a dark voice called out making Stave shutter slightly. 

“Then Samantha. That was the deal.” Steve growled, taking a large briefcase from Natasha. “Hand her over.”

The two agents walked out with Sam allowing the other male to step out. It was The Boss, he completely towered everyone, even Rogers. “Well Captain, it seems as though Samantha here is more valuable than I first realized. So for this to go down, I’m going to have to say it again. The money and Fury. Now.” he argued with a deep glare, placing a handgun at the base of Sam’s neck. 

She let out a soft whimper, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked at the team. Mouthing the word “Please.” She looked awful, her hair was matted and her body was covered in her own blood and dirt from laying on the ground. 

Steve sent a signal to Clint, stepping forward with the money in hand. “Alright, there’s no need to get hasty.” He huffed, placing the case on the ground and kicking it over. 

Then Fury stepped forward past Steve to get a better look, crossing his arms. “Let’s get this over with, hand them the girl and I’m yours.” Of course, he had other plans in mind, the team knew Nick could get himself out of there but for now, his main concern was getting Samantha home. “I will not repeat it; I don’t like negotiating especially with people who look like a walking zit.” 

One of The Bosses agents stormed over, grabbing the case and Fury, the other pulling Sam back into the jet. The team jumped into action, Steve fighting with Fury to pry the agent off of him, Clint quickly slid behind Sam to nab her, shooting an arrow at the second agent that had pushed her easily knocking him down. Somehow more men began to pile out of the jet while The Boss retreated. It was an all-out brawl, agents shooting and fighting back against the team. 

Clint’s main goal was to get Sam out of there, picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder before running as fast as he could out of the crowd. Tony began shooting from above, taking down quite a few agents before landing. “I’m getting on that jet, you hold them off,” he yelled out and left before Steve could stop him. 

Steve, Nick, and Nat along with the other SHIELD agents managed to hold them back and take out the hoard but The boss managed to escape with Tony going along for the ride. The boss flew the jet, following behind Clint to get Sam back. Tony hid in a corner, trying to be as quiet as possible and waiting to strike. 

“This is bad- You know I’m not as young as you-” Clint huffed out as he ran, realizing they were being followed by the jet.

“I’m not y-young either-” Sam coughed, clinging to Clint for dear life. Her voice sounded ragged and gravely but there was something much worse than he realized that was hindering her from talking too much. To help him out though she slid down to her feet, running alongside him to the best of her ability. 

“Relax I’m gonna get you out of here alright? We’ll fix you up.” He chirped, skidding to a halt. They had made it to a SHIELD squad car so he helped her get up in the back and got into the driver’s seat to haul ass and lose the jet. “The egg is in the basket, get home alive alright?” he radioed in.

Fury brushed himself off, stifling a laugh. “I don’t understand how you’ve all survived this long. That was enough excitement for today,” he said while getting into a squad car. “Sometimes I think this group is more trouble than it's worth.”

“Thanks, Clint, don’t die before getting her home,” Rogers said back, escorting The Boss’ goons into the back of a black SUV all while rolling his eyes at Nick. “Tonys managed to get into the jet by himself, let's hope he’s got a plan.” Clint was going to come back with a snide remark but the only thing that could be heard over the comms was a large crash. “Barton?” he called out, obvious worry in his tone but he didn’t get a response. “Shit… Barton!” 

After frantically trying to rush over to the scene a larger crash occurred, echoing through loud enough for the team to hear. “Something tells me Stark got that jet out of the air.” Fury said as he slammed his car door shut and sped off to the source of the sound. 

Stark crawled out from the burning jet, coughing and wheezing as he rolled over onto his back.

“Jarvis? S-Status report-” He cried out, pulling off bits of his suit. As Jarvis read off his slowly declining vitals he looked over to see The Boss climbing out of the jet, his jacket on fire and blood dripping from his head. He managed to get over to the squad car where Clint and Sam were struggling to get free. 

The next few minutes were a blur, but all he could make out was screaming, gunshots, and the sound of something being dragged away. He blacked out after, waking back up hours later in a hospital- more like the medical wing of the S.H.I.E.L.D building. 

“So your plan was to crash the jet or…?” Steve asked, standing up from his spot beside the bed. 

“How long have you been here?” The other male asked, sitting up slowly and looking around before locking his gaze with Steves. 

“Two hours, I had to make sure you woke up. The good news is we have more intel on this group that kidnapped Sam since we searched the jet, meaning we have eyes on all of their bases around the city. More good news is that you managed to not damage any city property when you went down.” He explained softly.

“What’s the bad news? There’s always bad news with you.” Tony asked with worry in his tone, looking down at himself to see that he was pretty okay for someone who was just in a plane crash. 

“They got her back, Clint crashed the squad car before the plane went down, The Boss, the name he’s given himself, dragged her away from the wreck making his escape before we could even get there.” He admits while moving his hand down to place it on his shoulder. “Your suit saved your life, you’re so lucky to be sitting here right now. The Boss on the other hand? We have no idea how he managed to get out of there and be able to drag Sam out behind him.” 

“Where’s Clint?” He asked, holding his hands up to see only a few scrapes and scratches. 

“He’s in recovery, he broke his arm in the crash and he got shot in the leg,” Steve explained. “Rest up alright? We’ll get her back. We already have an idea on where he’s heading next with her and something tells me she’s too valuable to him to kill her.” 

“So much for your plan, get in get out huh? We can see how well that worked out.” He scoffed, taking a deep breath before trying to stand. “I’ll go get that bastard myself, Sam shouldn’t have to suffer while I sit here-” he huffed out managing to get on his feet and stumble over to the door. 

“Stark, get back here. You’re not fit to go get her,” Steve argued.

“Yeah, but you are?! The hell have you been doing just sitting here watching over me!? If you won’t go then I will and it won’t end pretty.” He barked, pushing himself through the door and out to the hallway. 

Steve and a few nurses caught up with him but he didn’t exactly get too far. He fell to his knees, gasping for air and grasping at his chest. “Y-Yeah okay… Take me back-” 

~~~~~~

“You might be more trouble than you’re worth! Some of that might have been my fault I’ll have to admit.“ The Boss screamed, throwing Sam into a small dark room more like a closet than anything else. “Your mama was just as bad though if not more so.” He snickered, staring down at her. “I’m sure you want to know why I want you, why I wasn’t gonna give you back even after I got Fury. If my men weren’t so stupid it probably would’ve gone smoother... Aw hell, it was an adrenaline rush if I do say so myself.” 

Sam tried to talk but she couldn’t, making frustrated noises as she struggled. 

“Your mama made a deal with me, she needed money for drugs. She was low on supply ya know? So she needed to get the money somewhere. Your daddy and I were business partners, selling and buying merchandise in other countries to turn a profit. Your dad was a greedy old man so your mama never saw any of it, she had to get it another way.” He spoke slowly, acting as if this was somehow a good memory.

She didn’t want to believe it, her body shook as she listened. She never thought her mom was this way, thinking her dad was the one with the drug problem, not her. Of course, him talking about her dad in the past tense didn’t help either since she thought he was still alive. 

“She was gonna give ya to me for some cash; if only yous was home, Samantha. Your mama could still be here if you’da just stayed home to help make ends meet. I was promised a girl to use and what did I get? Mama dearest pleading to cut the deal.” He continued, almost trying to make her feel guilty. 

“LIAR!” She yelled causing a sharp pain to shoot through her gums. She pulled herself up, limping over to beat on his chest. “Don’t talk about my mother that way!” She cried, hiccuping and wheezing as she fell back to her knees. 

He kicked her back, kneeling to her level. “I always get what I’m promised. Now that I’ve got ya’s I’m not plannin’ on lettin’ ya go.” He growled, cracking his knuckles. “If they care about ya they’ll stay far away from here. You’re mine now.” 

“I’ll never be yours, no matter what you do to me I will never belong to you.” Sam spat, tears spilling down her cheeks “I don’t belong to anyone… If you wanted me so bad why’d you use me as bait..?” 

“I knew they would come if I played it up, getting Fury is still on my to-do list,” he explained. “But by all means keep telling yourself that ya don’t belong... After tonight ya might be singing a different tone.” The Boss hissed, pulling Sam up by her hair. “Jack! Grab the needle, she’s talking again...”

Sam pushed herself back into the corner, kicking and fighting to the best of her ability but the male named ‘Jack’ managed to take her down anyway. He took a needle and thread, using holes that were poked into her gums to sew her mouth shut, working through the blood and damaged flesh from when she screamed and tore the thread already in place. “Speak no evil, my dear~” The sick man purred in her ear before leaving her alone, shutting the large door behind him.


End file.
